TND – It Could Always Be Worse

January 26, 2011

Never let it be said that the maxims learned from picture books don’t stick with you. There’s a Russian Jewish folktale that I am reminded of every winter around about the end of January/mid-February when the weather is unendingly vile and my parents are sending me unsympathetic emails about how they’ve taken a picnic and sat outside in the sunshine reading a book in the forecourt of a 15th C country chapel.

It could always be worse.

It could always be worse.

I’m pretty sure the Russian Jews don’t have a monopoly on this sentiment, and it’s a useful thing to bear in mind when you (I) feel the need to make plaintive noises about the weather.

I could be living in Minnesota where it’s starts flirting with negative temperatures in October and doesn’t break up with them until much later in the year than I care to consider.

I could be Laura Ingalls and twisting straw into knots for fuel in an unheated lean-to in the middle of The Long Winter, eating groat loaf (I’m not sure I even want to google to find out what that is) and reciting bible verses for fun.

Yes, it was -2 (feels like -23) on Monday morning. Yes, we are scheduled for yet another foot of snow over night. But, it could always be worse. I have central heating. I have Downtown Abbey on Masterpiece Theater. And, I had beef cooked with onions and beer and beef broth into a succulent stew, served over fluffy boiled potatoes, with a side of crisp roasted broccoli and cauliflower for dinner last night.

Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower
I used to make this version with caraway seeds and garlic. I’ve since simplified my life since then.

Mix of broccoli & cauliflower (when available I always get the pretty colored cauliflower for it’s aesthetic appeal) – use slightly more than you think people will eat because it shrinks as it roasts and people always go back for seconds.